Show us your.......newbie progress!

[Nigelnaturist]

Been working on another summary form, this one for rolling 7 days from the current date.
Still needs formatting and there are a few fields missing.

Also since fitting the new chainset I am spinning faster as a rule, and useing a lower gear, but I am also slower, so that seems a waste of time.
However I am slight faster up the hills, though not sure if thats because I did more in terms of distance so more elevation, as there was only 0.5ft/mile difference

 

[Nigelnaturist]

So completed my first sportive 100 around 50 days after I started road riding and got my bike! 104 miles 5 hours and 56 mins @ 17.6 mph
https://www.strava.com/activities/203649707
Stopped three times on the planned rest stops for refuelling, went really well. Got an achey left knee from about 70 on and then the top of shoulders / bottom of neck started to hurt soon after, but to be expected I suppose! Biggest ride to date beating my 71 last week. Tagged on to a couple of experienced nice guys from Lowestoft who let me ride with them and didn't mind me taking advantage of their draft (I did spend some time at the front) but they helped me along a lot, so cheers Kev and Gerry! Overall very enjoyable day, early cold damp start but soon warmed up, it was great riding with other like minded bikers and especially in a close group of three. My bike held it's own well, didn't let me down, good gear changes etc (ventura cp50 from Argos for £400 in August) in a sea of much more expensive bikes so overall I'm well pleased with it. And if everybody pays up I've raised more than a couple of hundred quid for cancer research. Happy days.
View attachment 58271
Pic at the finish. Now I'm going to rest.......a lot.

We had faith, really well done.

 

[Justinslow]

We had faith, really well done.

Thanks! all the advice and encouragment off here certainly helped! I must say I was proper worried about doing this.

 

[Nigelnaturist]

Thanks! all the advice and encouragment off here certainly helped! I must say I was proper worried about doing this.

Took me a year before I did 100 miles in a day and that was split over two rides, the last 20 were hard as I was making it up as I went only because I know I was close to it.

 

[Torvi]

since there is no Q&A thread about clothing overall and im newbie ill post my questions here.

1. what's the best budget (up to 30) waterproof around?
2. is dhb a side branch of shimano? i dunno why but even tho they are cheap as rice, they kind of resembling me shimano stuff whenever i look at dhb clothes
3. i want to keep my legs warm in the mornings when im out to work but i dont want to get full sized tights because mostly they are padded and i want to wear em all day long at work (12h) and cycle in them under my work trousers so there is no point wearing padded all the time but i still need leg warmers to work, any ideas? will leg warmers like these be enough or should i get some ones that are suited for running? http://www.wiggle.co.uk/dhb-regulate-light-leg-warmers/
4. does spd shoes comes up with cleats in box or do i have to buy them separately?
5. will http://www.wiggle.co.uk/dhb-r10-road-cycling-shoe/ suit those http://www.wiggle.co.uk/shimano-a530-spd-single-sided-touring-pedals/ ?

#Edit

After last club ride i find myself begin really nice at sprinting, even smaller hills i do nice but when it comes to real climbing im sucking hard dropping from 1st-3rd place to 7th.(out of 16-20) and i know that all i need is practice over and over again but i just cant help it, i hate climbing and i hate hills. Once on flats i keep my speed around 16-18mph, hills are 7-8mph... sprinting i dunno maybe 25mph and i can keep the sprint for about 6-10 seconds going all-out. So what do i lack in climbing? Ive got power in legs, i can push them hard but still cant do nothing but just slow down and be depressed about it, does it really matter that much that im not riding in spds yet?

 

[Justinslow]

Not sure on some of your questions, but, my spd shimano pedals came with cleats in the box, my rexton shoes didn't come with any. I picked up some of the aldi leg warmers for £7.99 I think and they work great when cycling, but are quite tight fitting, maybe you could get larger than you need to be more comfy all day?

 

[Nigelnaturist]

since there is no Q&A thread about clothing overall and im newbie ill post my questions here.

#Edit

After last club ride i find myself begin really nice at sprinting, even smaller hills i do nice but when it comes to real climbing im sucking hard dropping from 1st-3rd place to 7th.(out of 16-20) and i know that all i need is practice over and over again but i just cant help it, i hate climbing and i hate hills. Once on flats i keep my speed around 16-18mph, hills are 7-8mph... sprinting i dunno maybe 25mph and i can keep the sprint for about 6-10 seconds going all-out. So what do i lack in climbing? Ive got power in legs, i can push them hard but still cant do nothing but just slow down and be depressed about it, does it really matter that much that im not riding in spds yet?

As you say just keep working on the hills, it all depends on what hill I am climbing http://www.strava.com/activities/203656164/segments/4799342753 this is 158ft in 1 1/2 miles or 100ft a mile, I manage an avg of 12mph on it today, but today was a poor performance, on a flat road and lack of wind I will do 18-20mph easy enough can sprint faster.
It seems you need to work on your Cardio/Vascula system as you should be able to sprint upto 60's depending on fitness ect.. (this is why a 400m race is a sprint and an 800m one isn't)

 

[Torvi]

welp my fitness isnt too good yet, ive just been cycling since 2-3 months and have time only for 1 maybe 2 longer rides a week. yesterdays club ride was also my longest so far and i do see improvement, ive done 29 miles in about 2 weeks after getting bike and i was totally trashed, now after 33 in hellish downpour after a coffee and granola bar i was ready to go more if not the rain and soaked shoes/everything.

 

[Nigelnaturist]

welp my fitness isnt too good yet, ive just been cycling since 2-3 months and have time only for 1 maybe 2 longer rides a week. yesterdays club ride was also my longest so far and i do see improvement, ive done 29 miles in about 2 weeks after getting bike and i was totally trashed, now after 33 in hellish downpour after a coffee and granola bar i was ready to go more if not the rain and soaked shoes/everything.

Its all you can do, it doesn't come over night, and its hard work, obviously the younger you are the easier it will be (in theory), I have done this so many times I have forgot http://www.strava.com/activities/203656164/segments/4799343124 about the same climb rate though a lot shorter, when I started I hated it, lowest gear and crawled up, these days its not a problem apart from being at the end of most of my rides.

 

[Torvi]

Its all you can do, it doesn't come over night, and its hard work, obviously the younger you are the easier it will be (in theory), I have done this so many times I have forgot http://www.strava.com/activities/203656164/segments/4799343124 about the same climb rate though a lot shorter, when I started I hated it, lowest gear and crawled up, these days its not a problem apart from being at the end of most of my rides.

this was my saturday ride: http://ridewithgps.com/routes/5697964

 

[dee.jay]

Well after 1 month of cycling: -

I've ridden 209 miles, started commuting to work, bought 2 bikes (and returned one), spent probably a bit too much on all the kit to go with it but commuting in safety

Not sure if I've lost weight but I certainly feel a lot healthier. I'm not sleeping so much, and I work shifts so having more time awake is nice. Feeling a bit tired at the moment though but a brisk ride home in the lashing rain in the morning will wake me up ready for a shower then bed

 

[Stonechat]

I wish i could do 50 miles at 20 mph (

I can do 27 miles at 15 mph
I'm trying my nuts off to build up the miles

I can do shorter rides up to 20 miles, sometimes up to 17 mph depends on conditions
30-50 miles I can now do at 16 mph - not always, though I did manage one 50 mile run in 15.5 mph.
Above that speed starts tailing off, though with proper nutrition and drinking maybe it would tail off less

Doing the New Forest 100 on Sunday, will be more that happy just to finish, though should be over 14 mph

Eddington number now 37

 

[Stonechat]

think that may be where I saw it as well, though possibly a while back..

just had a peep and of all my rides that are documented.. (CGOAB journal and since returning to the UK only...) I passed the 30,000km mark today - not bad for a tour and recovery from that injury!

A good total

I have no record of rides from the distant past, just memories of cycling in places like North Norfolk, Anglesey, Dorset
Sure I have done 65 miles in the past but (at the age of 62, 63 in a month) am now going further

 

[Learnincurve]

looks out of window.

lol. Nope.

 

[SpokeyDokey]

Hmmmm - very very windy and very very wet I'm very very sure my bike is not coming out of the garage today!